This application claims benefit of Japanese Application No. 2000-155193 filed in Japan on May 25, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method characteristic of the adjust of gain or dynamic range.
2. Related Art Statement
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is put into practical use for obtaining a biogenic tomogram by irradiating an ultrasonic pulse in vivo and receiving a reflection wave from a biogenic tissue. In particular, an ultrasonic endscope is used for diagnosing a phenomenally-undecided case by inserting the ultrasonic endoscope into the celom.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of a mechanical scanning system. A motor drive circuit 102 controlled by a controller 101 drives a motor 103, thereby rotating a transducer 104. The rotation of the transducer 104 causes the controller 101 to capture a timing signal indicating a rotational position of the motor 103 which is outputted from a position detecting circuit 105 comprising an encoder, etc. Based on the timing signal, the controller 101 controls a transmission signal generator 106 and a transmitting amplifier 107, and the transducer 104 connected to the transmitting amplifier 107 emits an ultrasonic pulse.
The transducer 104 receives an echo of an invivo ultrasonic pulse, a receiving amplifier 108 and a band-pass filter (BPF) 109 remove an unnecessary signal component from the signals received by the transducer 104, and a detecting circuit 110 detects a wave. An amplifier 111 for GAIN/STC amplifies the detected received signal to a set size, the amplified signal passes through a contrast circuit 112 and a low-pass filter (LBP) 113, the signal is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter 114 and, thereafter, it is stored in an FIFO 115.
Herein, in the amplifier 111 for GAIN/STC, the controller 101 can set the amount of amplification via a buffer 116 for GAIN/STC and a D/A converter 117.
The data stored in the FIFO 115 is coordinate transformed by an address controller 118 and a look-up table (LUT) 119 for coordinate transformation and is stored in a predetermined position of a memory 120. Here, a CPU 121 controls the controller 101 and the address controller 118.
The controller 101 performs the above-mentioned operation at intervals with a predetermined period till one rotation of the transducer 104. Received data corresponding to the one rotation is stored in the memory 120, is thereafter subjected to interpolation by an LUT 123 for interpolation in an interpolating circuit 122, passes through a video processing circuit 124, and is displayed on a monitor 125.
The controller 101 executes various control operation based on a set value of data which is transmitted from an operation setting unit 126 comprising a key board, etc.
FIG. 9 shows the configuration in the case in which gain and contrast of the received signal in FIG. 8 are adjusted after the digital conversion. The motor drive circuit 102 controlled by the controller 101 drives the motor 103, thereby rotating the transducer 104. The controller 101 captures the timing signal indicating the rotational position of the motor 103 outputted from the position detecting circuit 105. The controller 101 controls the transmission signal generator 106 and the transmitting amplifier 107 based on the timing signal, and the transducer 104 connected to the transmitting amplifier 107 emits the ultrasonic pulse.
The transducer 104 receives the echo of the invivo ultrasonic pulse, the receiving amplifier 108 and the band-pass filter (BPF) 109 remove an unnecessary signal component from the signals received by the transducer 104, and the detecting circuit 110 detects a wave. The above-described operation is similar to that of FIG. 8.
An A/D converting circuit 131 converts the detected received signal into a digital signal and the converted signal is stored in a memory 132 for pre-process. The controller 101 allows a ROM 133 for STC to output the received data converted into the digital signal by the memory 132 for pre-process. The ROM 133 for STC sets the received data from the memory 132 for pre-process and the set value from the controller 101 to an address, and outputs data in the ROM 133 for STC at a designated address to a ROM 134 for GAIN/contrast.
Data in the ROM 133 for STC is read by changing the set value from the controller 101 synchronously with the reading of the data. Thereby, gain in a distance direction changes.
Further, the ROM 134 for GAIN/contrast sets data outputted from the ROM 133 for STC and the set value from the controller 101 to an address value, and outputs the data in the ROM 134 for GAIN/contrast at the designated address to a coordinate transforming circuit 135. The data outputted from the ROM 134 for GAIN/contrast is coordinate transformed by using the LUT 119 for coordinate transformation in the coordinate transforming circuit 135 and is interpolated by using the LUT 123 for interpolation in the interpolating circuit 122. The above-described operation is executed by the controller 101 at intervals with a predetermined period till the one rotation of the transducer 104.
FIG. 10 shows the operation setting unit 126 used for the above equipment. In the operation setting unit 126, values of the GAIN, STC, and contrast set at the using time are indicated by the number of lit-on LEDs constituting an indicator 141. The plurality of LEDs are arranged corresponding to a varied range of the set values.
For example, in the configuration in FIG. 8, the adjustment for GAIN, STC, and contrast must be implemented in a state in which image data is being received and transmitted (hereinafter, this state is referred to as a live state). Thus, in a state in which no image data is being received and transmitted (hereinafter, this state is referred to as a freeze state), data subjected to the adjustment for GAIN, STC, and contrast stored in the memory 120 is displayed on a screen and, therefore, there is a problem that the GAIN, STC, and contrast cannot be adjusted. The configuration in FIG. 9 necessitates the memory 132 for pre-process, ROM 133 for STC, and ROM 134 for GAIN/contrast to adjust the GAIN, STC, and contrast after freezing. There are problems that when handling an ultrasonic image composed of a plurality of frames, the memory 132 for pre-process needs a large capacity, and operation for reading ultrasonic data composed of any desired frames causes the adjustment of the memory 132 for pre-process by the controller 101 to become complicated.
If setting the GAIN, STC, and contrast at desired levels, the ROM 133 for STC and the ROM 134 for GAIN/contrast are exchanged and there is a problem that easy exchange is impossible.
As shown in FIG. 10, since the set values of the GAIN, STC, and contrast are indicated by the number of the lit-on LEDs constituting the indicator 141 in the operation setting unit 126, consumed current flowing to the operation setting unit 126 is increased. Therefore, design on a power source is necessary in view of the consumed power of the operation setting unit 126 on the equipment side and a problem to increase costs is caused.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
It is one object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method capable of adjusting gain and contrast with low costs both in the live state and in the freeze state.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of arbitrarily changing the setting of a dynamic range on software by changing table data.
It is further another object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of adjusting the dynamic range of any desired frame with low costs by using a computer without providing a dedicated hardware.
According to the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises an echo signal adjust unit which can adjust gain or a dynamic range of an ultrasonic echo signal which is obtained by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave to/from a body;
an input unit which inputs a parameter for adjusting the gain or dynamic range;
an image processing unit which processes the ultrasonic echo signal which is adjusted by the echo signal adjust unit, thereby obtaining ultrasonic image data;
a storing unit which stores the ultrasonic image data;
a calculating unit which reads the ultrasonic image data from the storing unit and performs a predetermined calculation of the ultrasonic image data; and
an adjust unit which adjusts the echo signal adjust unit to adjust the gain or dynamic range based on the parameter inputted by the input unit when the parameter is inputted by the input unit during transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic wave and controls the calculating unit to read the ultrasonic image data from the storing unit for calculating the gain or dynamic range of the read ultrasonic image data based on the parameter inputted by the input unit when the parameter is inputted by the input unit during not transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic wave.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear more fully from the following description.